Sudak Turned Out By A Wide Margin

Frederick Sudak, under investigation by disciplinary authorities for paying a $30,000 fee to Mayor Eugene Sawyer, was ousted Tuesday by Democratic voters from his Cook County Circuit Court judgeship.

With more than two-thirds of the vote counted, Sudak was a distant fourth in the five-person race. Associate Judge Barbara Disko, who won the official party endorsement after Sudak was found unqualified by the Chicago Bar Association and the Chicago Council of Lawyers, appeared headed for an easy victory.

Sudak holds the Circuit Court seat by appointment from the state Supreme Court, but he had to win the primary and the general election in November to remain a judge.

With 68 percent of the votes counted, Disko had 110,140 votes. Trial attorney Donald J. Parker was second with 75,992. Sudak had 61,688 votes.

In another closely watched race, Associate Judge Thomas P. Durkin was leading Blanche M. Manning in a close contest for the Illinois Appellate Court nomination, leading five other candidates.

With 68 percent of the vote counted, Manning had 100,352 votes and Durkin had 90,905. Manning had the advantage of already sitting on the Appellate Court by appointment of the Supreme Court and also was endorsed by the regular Democratic Party.

Thaddeus Kowalski, an associate judge who has been praised for integrity and courage in testifying against fellow judges during the Operation Greylord trials, trailed another highly regarded candidate, John Gustafson, who sits by appointment as a Circuit Court judge.

Sudak had been slated and endorsed by the party until he lost a qualified rating given by the Chicago Bar Association, in part because he has refused to satisfactorily answer inquiries concerning the payment made to Sawyer in the 1970s.

The Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission is investigating the payment to determine if it violated any ethical rules for lawyers. A Sudak client had won a zoning change and other land-use concessions supported by Sawyer when he was 6th Ward alderman, but Sudak and the mayor denied the payment had anything to do with Sawyer`s actions.

The voters` choices Tuesday were extremely important because judicial winners in the Democratic primary are almost assured of victory in November. Usually, Republicans have been successful only in judicial elections for suburban vacancies, and this year there are none in the county.

Because of Mayor Harold Washington`s death, official party slating took on added importance for the judicial candidates, and each was asked to contribute at least $6,000 to party coffers to cover costs for printing and distributing the sample party ballot.

Nevertheless, two highly regarded judges who were running without official party support were faring well, though returns were incomplete.

Associate Judge Thomas E. Hoffman, who was found highly qualified by the Chicago Bar Association and the Chicago Council of Lawyers, led party-endorsed candidate Joseph K. Luby, another appointed Circuit Court judge.

Associate Judge Gino DiVito, a strong supporter of changing the method of judicial selection to a merit plan, was leading Arthur L. Janura, based primarily on suburban vote totals. Janura, the son of Arthur C. Janura, longtime head of the Cook County Forest Preserve District, formerly worked as an administrative aide for county Democratic Party Chairman George Dunne and also is an associate judge.

With 60 percent of the vote counted, party-endorsed Ralph Reyna, who was rated not qualified by both bar groups, was leading Edward Burr and Peter Hickey. Both had been rated qualified.

Carole Kamin Bellows, who in the 1970s was the first woman to head a state bar group when she was president of the Illinois State Bar Association, won an easy victory over Ronald J. Loris.

Two other races found highly regarded sitting judges in possible trouble. Michael Brennan Getty, sitting as a Circuit Court judge by appointment, narrowly led Denise M. O`Malley, a former attorney for the Chicago Transit Authority, who was rated not qualified by the bar groups.

Associate Judge Joseph Urso, who was rated highly qualified by the Chicago Bar Association, was in a neck-and-neck race with general practitioner Kathy Flanagan. Flanagan also was found not qualified by both major bar groups.

Downstate, five Democratic candidates in the 5th Judicial District battled for the chance at the Illinois Supreme Court seat left vacant by the retirement of Justice Joseph H. Goldenhersh.